COUNTRY LIFE
Country Life - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Country Life | |||||
| By: Prue Rushton, Issue 36 – Spring 2008 | |||||
| (Kabeethong Lodge – Mallacoota, Victoria, Australia) | |||||
| AT KABEETHONG LODGE IN MALLACOOTA YOU CAN ENJOY THE EXQUISITE LUXURY OF NATURE AND EACH OTHER AS IF IT WERE YOUR OWN COUNTRY HOME. | |||||
| It is dawn and the day is beginning to wake. Two birds soar into the yellow sun that is melting its way through the cool, steel grey sky. It makes shimmering patterns of light on the clear, still water. The poet and journalist EJ Brady first came here to Mallacoota, just south of Eden, in 1909. Impassioned and inspired, Brady declared the little coastal inlet to be a Utopia and proceeded to set up an artists’ and writers’ camp. Soon others followed – writers like Henry Lawson, Katherine Susannah-Pritchard and artist Tom Roberts. Karbeethong Lodge was the first house to be built here. In the 1920s, the lodge became a guesthouse and played host to more legions of artists and writers and fishermen. Banjo Paterson contemplated on the stately verandah. More recently, Michael Leunig created a ‘Mr Curly’ ode: a poetic explosion about his dreams, the lake, the fish, the moon and the angels that sing above Karbeethong. A hundred years on Karbeethong still sits, grand and sprawling, taking in the lake and all that has been preserved here inside the Croajingalong World Heritage listed reserve. The interior of Karbeethong has been beautifully restored; a contemporary take on colonial glamour with a hint of Vivienne Westwood. In the large lounge room, original wood panels are topped to the ceiling with a deep, delicious red. The 10 bedrooms and ensuites are individually decorated with fresh country classics. And everywhere there are collected pieces of art and found objects. With a whole house booking (from $1,350 per night, sleeps up to 28), it’s easy to make Karbeethong your own country home. There are no phones or radios or television. Here you can unplug from technology and reconnect as much with the extravagant luxury of raw nature as with each other. In the lounge room there is a beautiful fireplace to gather around, perfect for enjoying conversation or the simple pleasure of playing cards and board games. There is also a piano waiting to be hopped on. In a community that is often home to escapees from the Melbourne jazz scene, local musicians can also be organised for impromptu fireside performances or for an alfresco recital outside on the lawn. Continental breakfasts are served, while a large country kitchen encourages the exchange and creation of favourite recipes and the cooking of freshly caught fish from the lake. The communal dining table is a charming reminder that meals are best shared. A row across the lake distributes you onto a shelly bank. Simon Buckley, a naturalist who tours the lake in a wooden boat called the Porkie Bess, can put a name to most of its inhabitants. You can fly a private jet direct into Mallacoota airstrip or fly REX Airlines (ex Sydney and Melbourne) to Merimbula, an hour’s drive away. But taking time for a coastal drive somehow seems most perfect for shifting back into a slower, gentler way of being. | |||||
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Karbeethong Lodge | |||||
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